The last time Ryan Dempster had a chance to pitch in what was then known as SkyDome, it was 1994 and the British Columbia native was a 17-year-old right-hander for junior Team Canada. Dempster didn’t pitch in that series, and little did he know it would be almost two decades before he’d get a chance to pitch here again.

He didn’t let it slip by last night at Rogers Centre, throwing six solid innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays that allowed the Red Sox to reach 20 wins at the earliest date in franchise history.

“I always love pitching back here,” Dempster said. “Coming home and pitching in your country is always a fun thing. I’ve never had a chance to pitch here. . . . I grew up watching the Blue Jays in Skydome, so it was a lot of fun.”

Dempster spearheaded a solid top-to-bottom performance in a game periodically ground to a halt by Blue Jays pitchers, who walked 10. The Red Sox scored their runs on two singles (Mike Carp, Jacoby Ellsbury) and a sacrifice fly (Stephen Drew), and otherwise did very little offensively.

But Drew started a trio of 6-4-3 double plays, and when closer Andrew Bailey wasn’t available for the ninth because of biceps soreness, former closer Joel Hanrahan rose to the occasion by inducing a game-ending double play for the 100th save of his career.

“I didn’t really like the situation that called for that, (because) we’re a better team when Bailey and I are both healthy,” Hanrahan said. “Hopefully he’ll only be down for a day or two.”

Dempster got things off to a rough start in the first when fellow Canadian Brett Lawrie led off with a solo homer to center.